Editing Ulster Cycle (section)

===Manuscripts===
The stories are preserved in manuscripts of the 12th to 15th centuries but, in many cases, are believed to be much older. The language of the earliest stories is dateable to the 8th century, and events and characters are referred to in poems dating to the 7th.<ref>Garret Olmsted, "The Earliest Narrative Version of the ''Táin'': Seventh-century poetic references to ''Táin bó Cúailnge''", Emania 10, 1992, pp. 5–17</ref>

The earliest extant manuscripts of the Ulster Cycle are ''[[Lebor na hUidre]]'', "The Book of the Dun Cow", dating to no later than 1106, and ''[[The Book of Leinster]]'',<ref>The ''Book of Leinster'',  [http://www.ucd.ie/archives/html/franciscan/book_of_leinster.htm Ms A3], collection of [[University College Dublin]].</ref> compiled around 1160.